Books such as A Rumor of War; books that don't just tell a story but make you live and feel it; are the most difficult to review. You want to do the book justice - recapture its essence rather than intellectualize it.

The 9th Expeditionary Brigade, of which the author, Marine Lieutenant Philip Caputo was a member, was the first combat unit to be deployed to Vietnam, Da Nang, in March 1965. Brimming with confidence and bravado, he envisaged charging the beachhead like John Wayne in the movie Sands of Iwo Jima, but unlike Iwo Jima, Vietnam would be a "formless war against a formless enemy".

As days turned to weeks and then to months, Caputo's image of the war would change dramatically. From an infantry officer, he was transferred to regimental headquarters were, as an administrator his "convictions about the war had eroded to almost nothing" by the time he would eventually be posted back to the 'front line'. By this time, the war had escalated from isolated skirmishes to a series of intense battles, from when the death of one would have a profound impact on morale, to when soldiers ceased to care.

That change of attitude in the minds of Caputo and of all men is brought to a head, when Caputo in frustration and desperation would order a mission to capture (and implied, murder) two VC - one of whom would be revealed as their informer. Suddenly, Caputo and his men found themselves being court martialled for Murder.

Never has a book captured the mind of soldier so well, as idealism is replaced with desperation and hatred, where the lines of duty and barbarity are so blurred as to be almost indistinguishable, where the heat and dust, rain and mud, and insects become as real to the reader as the pages of the book in front of him.

Highly recommended. ( )

3269. A Rumor of War, by Philip Caputo (read Nov. 17, 1999) This is a powerful book, reeking with authenticity. Its defects are minor compared to the true-sounding pictures the book gives of what Vietnam was like. It shows how war brutalizes the men who must fight it. ( )

Probably my favorite book of all time. ( )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_C... ( )

Caputo served in the Marines in the early days of America's involvement in the Vietnam War. This compelling memoir of that experience seems eerily relevant today.